Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Den Quotations

All sects seem to me to be right in what they assert, and wrong in what they deny.

All theory, my friend, is grey, But green is life's glad golden tree.

Kindness is the golden thread that holds society together.

You are, when all is done-just what you are.

Thank God when He lays a burden on thee, and thank Him when He takes it off.

No one feels himself easy in a garden which does not look like the open country.

Is it life, I ask, is it even prudence, To bore thyself and bore the students?

If you want to reach the infinite, then explore every aspect of the finite.

Hypotheses are lullabies for teachers to sing their students to sleep.

Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.

And those whom once my song had cheered and gladdened, If still they live, rove through the world now saddened.

I am the Spirit that denies.

He who does not stretch himself according to the coverlet finds his feet uncovered.

Smoothly and lightly the golden seed by the furrow is covered.

Women are silver dishes into which we put golden apples.

Flowers are the beautiful hieroglyphics of nature with which she indicates how much she loves us.

The wealth that cannot be administered is a burden.

It is a misfortune to pass at once from observation to conclusion, and to regard both as of equal value; but it befalls many a student.

To know of someone here and there whom we accord with, who is living on with us, even in silence - - this makes our earthly ball a peopled garden.

All one needs to do is declare oneself free and one will immediately feel dependent. If you dare to declare yourself dependent, you feel independent.

We cannot and must not get rid of nor deny our characteristics. But we can give them shape and direction.

I have, alas! Philosophy, Medicine, Jurisprudence too, And to my cost Theology, With ardent labor, studied through. And here I stand, with all my lore, Poor fool, no wiser than before.

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.

Whoever would understand the poet Must go into the poet's country. [Ger., Wer den Dichter will verstehen Muss in Dichters Lande gehen.]

Gifts come from above in their own peculiar forms. [Ger., Die Gaben Kommen von oben herab, in ihren eignen Gestalten.]

Prudent and active men, who know their strength and use it with limit and circumspection, alone go far in the affairs of the world.

The Evil One has left, the evil ones remain. [Ger., Den Bosen sind sie los, die Bosen sind geblieben.]

Our earthly ball a peopled garden.

It is so hard that one cannot really have confidence in doctors and yet cannot do without them.

Nothing is worth more than this day.

We are our own devils; we drive ourselves out of our Edens.

No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.

Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions. Its infallibility is nothing but identity. Two times two is not four, but it is just two times two, and that is what we call four for short. But four is nothing new at all. And thus it goes on and on in its conclusions, except that in the higher formulas the identity fades out of sight.

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit - this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together

Es gibt kein Vergangenes, daß man zurücksehnen dürfte, es gibt nur ein ewig Neues, daß sich aus den erweiterten Elementen des Vergangenen gestaltet; und die echte Sehnsucht muß stets produktiv sein, ein neues Besseres zu schaffen.